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Distance Learning

Note that I use two action words here, marketing and promotion. If the education program is intended for internal organizational use then be sure that your marketing plan is related to the needs assessment of your staff and indirectly to your clients. If the organization has fewer than 50 staff, internal promotion can be simple. Usually internal promotion can be successful on the organizations website, internal newsletter, email blast or a notice taped next to the coffee or soda machine.

If the program or course is intended for external use then be sure that your education marketing plan is included as part of your overall organization plan. Many organizations believe that by simply marketing their organization brand, that they are also promoting their courses. Education programs and courses succeed or fail based upon the success of the promotion campaigns of individual or collective courses or specialized education programs. You can have the worldâs most advanced cutting edge course that is taught by the most knowledgeable subject matter expert (SME), which is delivered in the most appropriate format, and offered at the right price - but if your target audience doesnât know about it â it will fail. Those organizations that rely on their reputation and organizational marketing alone will likely fail in their education efforts. When it comes to education, adequate promotion and advertisement of your courses or education products is essential. Budget accordingly with separate line items for promotion and advertising of education courses within the overall marketing budget.

Professional firms need to clearly distinguish between what knowledge their employees need to improve the firm business and what education their employees need to meet any credential requirement.

Professional firms that have a quality professional development program think strategically. They establish a system to seek out the most up-to-date information for all of their employees, not just the professionals. Much of the information and knowledge gained is now free and/or inexpensive and increasingly web based such as podcast, webcast and online open forums, etc. Professional firms still use of mix of product manufacturer's in-house training, association's courses, mini workshops, conferences, and conventions, with an occasional mix in specialized programming. In todayâs economy, cost has become a major consideration to traditional type of programming. Major content considerations for firms - the source is reliable, it is preferably project based, innovative and cost effective.

Today, nearly all professionals are required to complete some form of mandatory continuing education (MCE) as a requirement to maintain their license to practice. From acupuncturist, medical, legal, and accounting to architects, engineers, and interior designers. While most MCE requirements allow for some type of self study and self reporting process, at some point the education to meet MCE requirements must be paid for. Generally the education must come from an external training organization. For the design/build industry, professional firms can take on this responsibly internally, reducing their cost while meeting both the needs of their employees and meeting the strategic goals of the professional firm.

Recently I was involved with a team that produced a virtual tour. The primary goal of the free virtual tour was intended to give a international audience a chance to gain knowledge by exploring the space. The depth of knowledge gained directly correlated to the participants involvement of freely selecting from varies features such as embedded videos, audio podcasts and information on building materials and products used throughout the space.
Assuming that knowledge becomes education at the point where the participant actually applies that what they learned, there is at one point in the tour a Google sketch-up feature embedded in the program that can actually be used. But what if, as most do, the participant looks at the feature but does not act. Would the knowledge still be education?
The tour can take between 1 â 1.5 hours depending on how many interactive features the participant selects. A final feature includes a quiz based upon the basic elements of the tour. The quiz follows the guidelines outlined in the standards of the International Learning Unit. It meets the organizationâs credential requirement, other professional organizations education requirements, and even most state licensing boardâs MCE requirements. Only by paying and successfully completing the quiz will âeducationâ credits be awarded? Is that really the only difference between knowledge and education â fees? You be the judge - take the virtual tour, yourself. Stop before the quiz. Is it knowledge or education?

Defining clear terms is a problem here as there is so much gray as we try to distinguish the difference between knowledge and education. An example: a couple of years ago I watched a webinar lecture from Harvard's free online course lectures series about "Historical Preservation in Havana, Cuba." Many universities now offer this type of service. For me this was self-directed knowledge. I gained some useful knowledge that I could apply in a practical way had I chosen. Could this same knowledge also be considered education. Harvard would not likely acknowledge my watching their free lecture as education unless I paid them tuition. If I paid Harvard tuition, would the same lecture immediately transform from knowledge into education?

Some say education is a process or systematic distribution of knowledge. In this case I could claim that I did receive an education and that I can now apply this knowledge.